John Verses the Cockroach.

It was dark and a giant cockroach was trying to battle it's way through the curtains into the van. I (John) aimed the torch at the little blighter to try and catch it and it decided to attack. After it flew into my chest I stumbled backwards over a big log behind the van and did a full backwards somersault over the log. Very funny. If only we'd had it on tape!

New digs.

It can get a little warm in the van at night so we've invested in a cheap tent. It does the business although you can get get wet in heavy rain. We have named it Codling.

Rain, rain, rain

It's a WET summer in Oz this year. There has been lots of floods although not where we have been but we have seen a lot of rain. The last couple of days have been very wet. Although we are not complaining as we know how the weather's been at home.

Camel Rock

We have spend a good few nights camping at a place called Bermegui and at a great free site further north in the Narooma. In between these places is a good surfing beach named Camel Rock (there is a rock that looks like a camel). The waves have been good, we've surfed alongside dolphins again. One day a strong north-easterly wind brought hundreds of blue bottle jellyfish into the bay. They are only small but have long blue stingers up to a meter in length that can give a painful sting as they rap around you. Luckily they float so are easier to spot than other jelly fish so we've managed to avoid them so far.

Fix it Tuesday

We have been spending our days surfing at a place called Tathra. Really nice little town that has come alive in the summer. There's no free camping on the beach front so we have been making a short journey inland to a place called Bega (famous for Cows and particularly their cheese – Bega Cheese). With a few jobs to do we decided to have a productive day in Bega. We fixed our camping chairs, made curtains (finally). Ruth did most of the work and closely supervised my efforts. They are looking good and ORANGE. Lastly I (John), getting back in touch with my masculine side, fixed the van. The van had been back firing on Gas (which to be fair gave you loads of space on the road). We bought some tools and spark plugs and hay presto we are back running smoothly on gas. I'm glad I listened to my Dad when he taught me to service a car. Thanks Dad.

New Year in Merimbula!

New years eve was probably the hottest day we've had so far. With no surf we had a nice beach day. We picked up some tasty food from the super market and decided to head back to a camping ground that we'd spent a couple of nights at, a place high up in the forest called Yellow Pinch Dam. The ground was quiet except for one other family and an occasional man that would appear from the woods. Presumably most people chose to see in the New Year in the Town, or even more popular heading for Sydney. Again another lovely family, they were also taking a year out to travel, the only difference was they were doing it with 3 children, brave!
We had a lovely evening, We cooked a nice meal, made a fire, played a variation of Beetle, but instead of using dice we used 'pass the pig' pigs and instead of drawing beetles we drew Koalas. John was the winner of Koala! By midnight we were the only ones still up, we celebrated with a drink of fizz and sang a quiet version of auld lang syne. It was lovely! A perfect way to see in the New year!
The next day we even found a beach we didn't know existed and to our surprise that's where the surf had been hiding. Yay! Once we were suited up and ready to get in the water John turned to me and said 'What's that in the water?' I thought he was winding me up as we've often played this cruel joke on each other but as I looked out to sea I got a glimpse of a fin. I had to double take, but waiting to catch sight of it again we saw a huge gracefully leap out of the water, it was a dolphin, and then another and another, there was a whole group of them, they were amazing! We've never seen dolphins in their own habitats, a few Porpoises at Filey Beach but not this size and not this many, it was fantastic.
Happy New Year! Hope 2011 is a great one!.x

An alternative Christmas Day.

We got up early to the sun shining brightly and everyone around the site in good spirits, wishing each other Merry Christmas. It was a strange feeling for us both to be so far away from home and families on Christmas Day but also to have such a bright, sunny day. After breakfast we did something that should never be done on Christmas day – laundry. But because it was our last day on the site and also due to the weather being so quickly changeable we thought we'd make the most of the sunshine. We kept it festive though, we wore our Santa hats and even tried to double up the hanging of the laundry with decorating the van by keeping the white and red socks and undies to one side. With hot sunshine and a strong wind the job was done in no time. We then went to Tip Beach (it's a lot nicer than it sounds) for a surf and after a bit of lunch we headed back to the beach for a swim and frisbee. It had been a really nice day but so far not very Chrismassy. We bumped into a few local guys we'd met in the sea, when we told them our plans for Christmas dinner (which was going to be a Mexican) we were told it was quite fitting as the New South Welsh People call the Victorians 'Mexicans' because they are south of the border. Excellent! We headed back to the camp site to cook our food around tea time. When we arrived back our neighbours were just about to start a Yearly Bochie Ball Chrsitmas Classic Tournament. They were a group of families who have been coming to Mallacoota for Christmas for the past 38 years. They started the tradition of the Bochie ball (which is just like our sand bowls) tournament years ago to wake people up after eating and drinking too much at Christmas dinner. Anyway they were a few people short and asked if we'd like to play. We were pretty hungry but were also keen to get involved so we played and had a few drinks with them. John and I ended up being runners up, we had our names put on the trophie (a $1 shield they'd picked up from the charity shop way back when the tradition began). It said:
RUNNERS UP : John and Ruth Stansfield -Newly Weds (POMS)
After getting a good bit of ribbing for being poms and sharing a few more beers the heavens opened, we were all rallied into their huge gazebo. Now the storm was set in so was way too wet to start cooking our mexican they insisted on feeding us too, so much food! We ended up spending the whole evening with them, it was really fun. It's amazing how kind people can be even to strangers. The next morning we left the campsite with sore heads, but before we left our new friends brought us over a Mallacoota stubby holder each to encourage us to drink cold beer (instead of that warm stuff the English drink) and also as a reminder of a fun Christmas, signed and dated.
We hope you all had a great Christmas day!xx